In general, electric switches of this type for manually operated electric tools and appliances, such as electric drills, cordless screwdrivers, hammer drills, food blenders, or the like, include, in addition to the electric circuit which can be switched by an activation element that is activated from outside, control and regulation of the rotational speed or torque of the motor. In general, rotary or slide potentiometers are used for this purpose. In addition to this rotational speed control, it is also desired to set the direction of rotation, for example via a mechanical changeover device. This requires a high number of contact systems which leads to a complex structure of the switch. A compact electric switch is known from DE 10 1009 009 965 A1. In this case, the electrical components are arranged on both sides of the circuit board, which is known from the prior art. However, it is disadvantageous that the entire circuit board must be pivoted in the housing in order to switch over the direction of rotation. This places additional challenges on the sealing system in particular.